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Working With Clients

This handsome man is Joe. He lives in the same assisted living place as my dad does in Perham, Minnesota. Last month when I was back there to visit Dad I got a lot of time to enjoy Joe and his precious wife, Yvonne. They are around 88-years-old, Dad says. Besides enjoying their company at mealtimes, we invited them to our potet klub party. Potet klub is a Norwegian delight I grew up with. Many people find it disgusting to look at. These dumplings kind of look like the surface of the moon. And then there's the ingredients list: potatoes, bacon, flour, salt and then bacon drippings as the generous garnish that swims over those moon balls. (I provided a link for you to watch a clip of how they're made). It's something we enjoyed during holidays or at church suppers or whenever out ...

Periodically, I like to take questions that image consultants have asked me during trainings or conferences and share them along with my answers on the blog.
There's always an interest in how to get more business or get business in the first place so I'm tackling five of those types of questions today. I hope my experience can help you over a bump or two so you'll feel more ease in this aspect of running your business.
Q: Can you possibly manipulate clients to get them to move forward?
A: No, you can't. You can make suggestions about what you see that would be their next step in solving the problems they're having. The best I've done in situations where the client is indecisive is to name the step and then say, "I'd be happy to help you."
Q: As I ask this question I think I ...

A consultant was speaking recently on a call and I heard something in her voice that was so familiar. She loves what she does. She’s crazy about working with her clients. Her passion for helping others is practically primal. It’s what she’s meant to be and do. Yet, she finds it challenging to explain to people just what it is she does and why people should hire her to do it.
I bet you can relate! We’re talented. We’re experienced. We’ve helped people achieve things they couldn’t have achieved without our services. We could practically do what we do in our sleep. So why can it be so difficult to speak about our services in a way that people will want to hire us?
The easiest way I’ve come up with to talk about the difference we make is through this three-step formula where I ...

Oh, I love my job! This was me yesterday after finishing work with a client. There should have been a video. I'd have been dancing the happy dance!
So here's the scenario: I have two sisters who have been clients for over two decades. One of the sisters has adult kids and now two of them have been clients for years.
One of them is getting married in three months and I'm helping with everything: dressing the bride-to-be for the wedding and rehearsal dinner, dressing the groom and his two little boys, dressing the mother and the aunt for both the wedding and the rehearsal dinner, dressing the brother who will be officiating at the garden wedding.
We've already helped the couple with the rings. Russ, my partner, is doing the photos and I'm taking the B roll photos at the ...

It's often the littlest things that can makes our clients so happy!
Yesterday I was working with a client creating new outfits from her closet. She took a T-shirt off over her head and got lipstick on it.
"Oh no! Do you know how to get lipstick out of clothes?" she said.
It just so happens I do! I asked her for some hairspray and a soft rag like an old washcloth.
I slipped into her bathroom and did my magic trick, came out and showed her the T-shirt with no lipstick on it and she said, "I just knew you'd have a way to take that out!"
(Here's a blog post about how I used hair spray to remove bright lipstick from an ivory cashmere sweater!)
Gaining a reputation for solutions
What I loved about what she said was what was implied: She had confidence that I could come ...

Last night in our Monthly Marketing Bundle strategy call we talked about successes people are having and then went over the article, tip sheet, and speech outline I’d prepared for them, brainstorming ways to use them in their marketing. All of that was part of our normal monthly format.
What was different this month is that I saved time at the end for everyone to share a highlight of the year. It could be something that happened with a client, someone they met—anything big or small.
It was awesome to hear voices chiming in saying that the Monthly Marketing Bundle (MMB) Summer Retreat was the biggest highlight for many. I have to agree; it was pretty remarkable. It's on my list too!
With members pitching in to help we created our own three-day conference here in Sonoma ...

The other night I was reflecting on the 30+ years that I’ve been in business. I grabbed the notebook sitting on the bed stand and started writing down the things that I’ve found to be the most important.
If someone were to ask me what advice I had for people working in our industry, I’d have to start with these. Hope you enjoy!
1. It’s okay to dream big but don’t forget to take the small steps that are necessary to build your business.
2. Getting there really is the best part. Enjoy all the steps along the way.
3. Make a practice of paying off your business credit card every month.
4. Save. Every week. Get a savings account for your business and watch that balance grow. You’ll be happy you did this when it comes to paying quarterly taxes.
5. Not all clients are the right ...

Three weeks ago when I was in Chicago I got to join great colleagues and go to the opening of the exhibit "Making Mainbocher, the First American Couturier" at the Chicago History Museum. It's there until August 20, 2017 so you can still make a point to see it if you're near Chicago. I recommend it!
I always look at things through image consulting eyes. Through those eyes, I particularly loved this sentence in the Making Mainbocher plaque in the exhibit: "He was an artist, musician, fashion illustrator, magazine editor, and couturier--each step taken supported his mastery of the next."
Likening our career path to Mainbocher's
I've had the deep pleasure of knowing lots of people in our industry and it's always amazing to see what got them to image ...